When City of Johannesburg Libraries in South Africa went into lockdown on 27 March 2020, millions of regular users of its network of 89 public libraries across the city were suddenly deprived of free access to books, newspapers and magazines, computers, Wi-FI internet, literacy classes and ICT and e-literacy training. They also lost social opportunities: storytime for children, social gatherings for seniors, study groups. 

The EIFL Public Library Innovation Programme (EIFL-PLIP) and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) will conduct a workshop titled ‘Libraries are great? Prove it! Data and evidence-based storytelling’ for the Occupy Library Innovators Hub project. 

SPIDER (the Swedish Programme for ICT in Developing Regions) has invited Rima Kupryte, EIFL Director, and Iryna Kuchma, EIFL Open Access Programme Manager, to take part in SPIDER DINE (Digital Impact and Networking Event). 

SPIDER DINE is a digital conference on the impact of digital transformation on global development in the past 10 years while looking ahead to 2030.  SPIDER is based at DSV, Department of Computer and System Sciences, which is part of Stockholm University.

In September 2020 UNESCO submitted a first draft Recommendation on Open Science to its 193 member states following extensive global consultation. Iryna Kuchma, Manager of the EIFL Open Access Programme, was one of the 30 international experts appointed by the Director-General of UNESCO to serve on the UNESCO Open Science Advisory Committee that prepared the first draft Recommendation. 

Article title: UNESCO Weighs In On Open Science

‘Open for All’ is the theme of the 16th International Conference on Open Repositories (OR2021), which will provide a platform to explore and reflect on the ways in which repositories enable openness for all. 

Iryna Kuchma, EIFL Open Access Programme Manager, is one of the programme co-chairs, with Liz Krznarich, DataCite, and Leila Sterman, Montana State University.